


Team Building

by Ginger375



Category: X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men Evolution
Genre: Covert, Enemy to Ally, Gen, Gotta learn to work together, Making the cut, Missions, New Team, Pre-Relationship, X-force - Freeform, black ops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29050842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ginger375/pseuds/Ginger375
Summary: Post-Series. The X-men need a covert ops team. Wolverine is a given, Gambit is another. Who else will make the cut?
Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Rogue
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Team Building

Life was funny sometimes.

If someone had told Remy LeBeau way back when he’d signed on with Magneto that he would eventually switch sides and join the do-gooders he’s been tasked to spy on, he would have laughed in their face.

He’d been a lying, manipulative bastard back then, mostly due to his upbringing both in the guild and on the street. Survival meant depending on oneself, not others. 

That perspective had gradually changed as his empathic abilities grew.

He’d done the wrong things for the right reasons for so long he didn’t think he’d ever be able to redeem himself. Thankfully, he’d been thrown a bone in the form of a de-aged Storm who needed help getting home. A knight in shining armour, he was not. A thief in a worn out trench coat was the best he could do.

Now, he’d been offered a chance to make up for his past indiscretions and put his considerable skills to use. He couldn’t pass that up.

Sitting in the control room of the Danger Room, Gambit was observing the current batch of mutants that were on active team status in hopes there would be a few capable of joining him and Wolverine on some more covert missions. He was joined by the Wolverine, Storm, and Charles Xavier himself.

Gambit watched the chaos in the room below, and smiled. Despite all the plasma blasts, smashed equipment, piles of melting ice, and several small fires, the group seemed to have a handle on the scenario. He couldn’t wait until he was cleared to play with the rest of the group. He’d been itching to blow something up.

“So? Any thoughts?” A voice to his right asked.

Oh, he had many thoughts, but he was pretty sure the collected leadership of the institute wouldn’t really want to hear them. Still, if this whole endeavour was ever going to work, he’d have to be at least a little honest.

“Somethin’ like this, you need folks that understand the art of being subtle,” he said, gesturing to the exercise below. “Big showy powers are the last thing you want.”

“You mean like yours?” Wolverine quipped.

Gambit turned and gave the older man a look. “Mine can be in-your-face, but I don’t use ‘em that way for this sorta work. There’s really no other way to use a bright red optic blast.”

Wolverine crossed his arms, but said nothing. Gambit was right and he knew it.

“Well, if you want subtle powers, there’s always Rogue-” Storm started.

“NO!” Gambit and Wolverine practically shouted at the same time. The two men looked at each other before quickly looking away.

“Her powers are subtle, but if she saw something she didn’t like, there’d be no stopping her. We can’t have that.” Wolverine clarified. “That your thought too, Cajun?”

“Yeah, sure,” Gambit said absently. Truthfully, the thought of Rogue getting caught in the middle of a mess like in Madripoor made his stomach drop, and not in the good way it usually did when it came to her. He’d never be able to focus on the task at hand if she was there. Not that anyone in the control room needed to know that.

He decided to change the subject. “Telepath would be useful. Easier to keep in communication when you don’t gotta speak out loud.” He turned to Xavier. “Doubt you’d wanna let Red get her hands dirty?”

Xavier shook his head. “Jean has been having some… issues with her powers of late. I’d rather not add any undue stress.”

Interesting way of putting it, he’d have to look into that later. “Don’t suppose you’ve got a spare one kickin’ around?

“We do, as a matter of fact. Though I doubt she would appreciate being called ‘a spare’.” He gestured to a young woman with purple hair. A similarly coloured glow surrounded the upper portion of her face; it vaguely resembled a butterfly. “Elizabeth Braddock. Telepath, some telekinetic abilities. She was a STRIKE agent for the last three years.”

Gambit tapped his chin. STRIKE was the UK version of SHIELD, which meant she must have been damn good to run with them. “What’s she doing here, then?”

“The aforementioned telekinetic powers. She’s been training with us to get a better handle on them.”

“She’d like to get back in the field, so to speak,” Storm added.

Gambit nodded. “If she’s already got experience, it’s a no-brainer bringin’ her in. I doubt you got any other ex-SHIELD-type agents in the ranks now?

“I’m afraid not,” Charles said with a small smile. “Though I’m sure Sage would welcome the challenge of this squad.”

“What’s her story?” He asked, gesturing to the stoic Sage, who seemed to be flipping through something in front of her that only she could see before calling out to the team.

“Tessa Niles. Spent the last two years working in and digging up dirt on the Hellfire Club,” Wolverine said.

“Seriously? Who was she doing that for?” Government agencies had been trying to infiltrate the elusive organization for numerous crimes, but the inner circle of the club were too good at covering their tracks.

“No one,” Wolverine answered. “She says her girlfriend got a job there and then disappeared. She’s convinced someone inside had something to do with it.”

“That’s a very good possibility… shady as fuck, that place,” Gambit mused. Even the guild was wary of the Hellfire Club.

“She managed to work her way up to Sebastian Shaw’s personal assistant,” Xavier said. “When he found out she wasn’t who she said she was, she was psychically attacked and left for dead. I felt her cry for help without Cerebro, it was that intense.”

Damn. “She got a target on her back?”

“As long as Hellfire thinks she’s dead, she’s safe. We’ll be ready if they ever find out she ain’t,” Wolverine replied.

“And her powers?”

“Essentially, her mind is a supercomputer. She retains any and all knowledge, has perfect recall, and total control over her own body. What you see her doing there is going through her ‘files’,” Xavier explained.

“Like the Mind Palace in  _ Sherlock _ ,” Gambit said more to himself than anyone else. He didn’t know if any of them would even get the reference. “Interestin’.” 

A groan of metal echoed from within the Danger Room followed by a crash. Gambit could hear a raised male voice that had to be Cyclops. An even louder female voice retorted. He half expected it to be Rogue, but found it to be a woman with green hair standing her ground while their field commander berated her.

Anyone that didn’t just fall over themselves to win Cyclops’ approval was alright in his book.

Storm sighed, but not without a hint of admiration. “That girl has something to prove and she’s not going to stop until she does.”

Gambit watched as the green-haired woman turned on her heel and returned to her position. She started manipulating what must have started life as a ball bearing into different shapes to work out her frustration.

He almost missed the conversation going on around him.

“The smaller the crew, the better,” Wolverine was addressing him. “Unless you got anyone else in mind?”

Gambit gestured to a young green-haired woman. “What about her?”

Storm raised an eyebrow. “Polaris? Really?”

“You said yourself, she’s got somethin’ to prove... Sometimes you need that.”

“I take it you noticed what her powers are, then?” Xavier asked.

“Kinda hard not to when I worked for the only other person who’s got ‘em. What are the odds of someone else controllin’ magnetism?”

“Closer than you think,” Xavier answered before dropping the bombshell of the day. “She’s Magneto’s daughter.”

Gambit turned, eyes wide. “M’sorry, what? He has another kid?”

Storm nodded. “A DNA test confirmed it.”

Gambit gave a rueful little laugh. Oh, this was too rich. “And how did he react to that news?”

The three senior X-Men looked at each other. “Not well,” Charles finally answered.

That explained why the man wasn’t around. Gambit sat back in his chair. “And the twins?”

“Even worse. Wanda especially.”

Gambit let out a low whistle. To have been a fly on the wall for that reveal. “OK, now we definitely need her.”

“Lorna isn’t exactly the most stable,” Xavier said, brow furrowed in concern. “I worry this might be too much for her.”

“No, Gumbo’s right. This girl’s essentially been rejected by everyone that was supposed to give a damn about her. She needs to feel like she’s worthy of something.” Wolverine mused. “We get her trained up, focused… she could do it. I’ll keep an eye on her, make sure she’s not gonna fall off the edge.”

“I’m not so sure about this,” Storm started.

“We’re not going on a mission tomorrow, ‘Ro. It’s gonna be awhile before we get this show on the road,” Wolverine countered. “Hell, this one’s still gotta be cleared before we can even consider it,” he jerked his thumb at Gambit. Wh shrugged in reply.

“They also have to agree to being on such a team,” Charles said. “No one is going to be forced into this role.”

“‘Course not. But it won’t hurt to run the idea by them, see if they’re interested in takin’ on new roles within the organization,” Gambit reasoned. 

Storm brought up the three women’s files on the console screen. “Looks like you two will be outnumbered,” she said to Wolverine and Gambit, a teasing tone in her voice.

“We are nothin’ if not progressive,” Gambit said, nodding sagely. Wolverine merely grunted.

A horn sounded, signaling the end of the exercise. As the X-men started to filter out, Storm spoke over the intercom. “Psylocke, Sage, Polaris, please join us in the control room.”

Gambit looked at Wolverine. The man gave him a curt nod.

This was going to be interesting if nothing else.

**Author's Note:**

> How I envision X-Force in the Evo-verse. Check out my profile to see where this fic falls in the timeline. Thanks for reading!


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